February 16, 2010

Dillard might not seek Republican governor recount unless he trails by less than 100 votes

As election officials across Illinois continued to tally the final trickle of uncounted ballots in the disputed Republican governor race today, state Sen. Kirk Dillard indicated he would not push for a recount unless he trailed rival state Sen. Bill Brady by 100 votes or less.

But Dillard could face difficulties getting that close. The Hinsdale lawmaker contended he had cut in half Brady’s 420-vote lead as election offices went through final absentee ballots and provisional ballots cast by voters who were not on registration lists, but claimed they met voting requirements.

“I want to do everything possible to avoid a recount,” Dillard said. “But if it's around a hundred votes or less, then a recount is a possibility.”

Dampening talk of going through the expensive process, Dillard said the difference “would have to be very low before I'd put the state or my party through a recount.”

Brady, a veteran legislator from Bloomington, stopped short of claiming victory. But he said he is confident that after the remaining uncounted votes are totaled, “we’ll be nearer the 400 (vote) margin than anything else.”

“We’re confident this will go without being contested. We don’t see any irregularities at this point,” Brady said. “If he’s using 100 (votes) as a benchmark, we’re confident we’ll be above that.”

Late unofficial vote counts from election authorities in the more-populous six-county Chicago region showed Dillard cutting into Brady’s lead by nearly 200 votes. Still, final tallying continues in downstate counties where, despite fewer votes being cast, Brady has held an advantage over Dillard.

Dillard maintained the differential could be made up in the Chicago suburbs by counting provisional ballots — most of which are routinely tossed. Dillard said he won’t make a decision on whether to concede the race until the State Board of Elections certifies the results March 5.

But a challenge based on provisional votes could become a messy one, and Dillard said he’s unsure he would press for more of them to be counted. Dillard’s low threshold for considering a recount reflects the advances in electronic vote-tabulation technology. Local election officials have until Feb. 23 to re-test their results and send them to the state.

“The local election authorities need to canvass and have time to double-check their math,” Dillard said. “And I'd like to see a preliminary tabulation by the actual election authority, the State Board of Elections…especially when you're talking about 200 votes out of about three-quarters of a million cast. Mistakes do happen.”

While Republicans continued to sort out their state standard bearer for the November election, Scott Lee Cohen, the embattled pawnbroker who won the Democratic lieutenant governor contest, had papers submitted Tuesday formally resigning the nomination. Democratic leaders are expected to convene after the March 5 ballot certification to propose a replacement to team up with Gov. Pat Quinn on the ballot.

Comments

1. Jim Ryan was a late announcement and reversed his retirement from public office/service made in 2006. Hampered by
2. Bob Schillerstrom, former DuPage County board chairman pulled out of race late (2 weeks before primary). Never had the necessary money and support -- BUT over 7,000 were cast for him. He threw his support to Jim Ryan, but those 7,000 votes woudl not have made a difference.
3. McKenna was the big money candidate -- majority of support in the collar counties of Chicago -- did not put a dent in the 79 of 103 counties where Brady won -- showing you can not run a Republican campaign from your house on the north shore.
4. Brady - ran a great grass roots campaign in downstate IL. However, in order to WIN the governorship in Illinois you have to balance downstate (central and southern IL) with the northern IL (north of I-80) and Chicago.Cook county.
He did poor in these areas -- had virtually no TV time and only came up to Chicago at some train stations in the final week of the campaign.
He needs to examine the Jim Edgar lessons from the 1980/1990 -- and modify for the increasing portion of the state's population in larger cities (> 40,000) and Chicago -- disappearing US House districts in downstate IL show the migration of IL population out-of-state.
5. Dillard - Jim Ryan won DuPage county with 29% of vote (27,408 votes). Ironically during debate, Dillard said he would support Ryan (if he was not running). Jim Ryan refused to answer the question (big mistake).
IF Brady loses to Quinn -- Look for Dillard to run in 4 years.

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